Pros and Cons: Personal Loans with No Credit Check

Do you need quick cash? Loans can be extremely beneficial, especially if you have debt in various places. Reasons to consider a personal loan include debt consolidation, big purchases, and unexpected financial costs.

You can use a loan to pay for wedding expenses, big moves, house repairs, or medical bills. Most loans are approved based on creditworthiness. If you don’t have time to improve your credit score, you can apply for a personal loan without getting your credit history checked. It may not be a wise idea, but it is possible.

Various online loan providers will approve your loan application without viewing your credit score. Some require collateral to minimize the lender’s risk. Many include high interest rates. We breakdown the reasons for choosing personal loans with no credit checks and offer alternatives to ensure that you are getting what you need while protecting your financial health.

Pros and Cons to Personal Loans with No Credit Checks

The only benefit to a personal loan with no credit check is that they are fast. If you are a borrower living paycheck to paycheck, with bad credit, and in need of fast money, this type of loan seems ideal. Personal loans without credit checks are essentially a form of short-term bridge financing. The problem is that these loans are very expensive and can be a long-term problem.

Here are some of the many cons to personal loans that don’t require credit checks:

• Lenders raise their rates to account for all applicants. A lender may approve your application without viewing your credit history, but to ensure that they aren’t putting themselves at risk, they often provide very high interest rates, making it almost impossible for borrowers to pay them off. You could end up paying more than 100% APR.
• The loans often require a minimum loan amount. If you are in need of a smaller dollar amount to secure your monthly rent fee, you might want to consider alternative options to personal loans. Loans from providers like Capital Good Fund offer anywhere from $300 to $20,000 in loans.

Comparable loans include payday loans and auto title loans. According to the Pew Charitable Trusts, over 80% of payday loan borrowers don’t have enough money to pay their payday loan payments. Payday loans are quick, small amount loans that are due quickly. Typically, these loans are $500 or less and they come with high interest rates and additional fees. Auto title loans, in contrast, use your vehicle as security or leverage in order to get fast cash. Make sure you read all terms and conditions before you secure a loan.

If you can afford to wait and apply for a personal loan that checks your credit even if it’s bad credit then you will likely get a better loan. Even individuals with low credit can get approved for alternative loans.

Alternative Types of Personal Loans

Consider what type of loan you really need. Alternative types of loans include home equity loans, student loans, and secured and unsecured loans. Secured and unsecured personal loans are better than personal loans with no credit checks. Here are the major differences:

• Secured personal loans require collateral. Secured loans include auto loans and mortgages. One of the benefits of secured personal loans is that when you put an asset up for collateral, you have a better chance of getting a lower-interest rate. Even though the lender could take away your assets if you don’t make your payments, these are great loan options for anyone in need of significant funds, who are sure they can repay the loan to avoid asset forfeiture. Car title loans and payday loans are both considered secured personal loans and we recommend avoiding them.
• Unsecured personal loans don’t require collateral. When you don’t offer collateral, lenders typically raise interest rates on loans that get approved. A few perks to unsecured personal loans is that the process is quick and you can get a loan without risking a personal asset.

Personal loans can be used for various reasons, including debt consolidation. A loan provider can approve your application, combine all of your debt into one account, and charge one monthly payment. Often, loan interest rates are lower than credit card interest rates which is why you would typically rather pay off a personal lender than a credit card company.

Installment Loans

Unlike revolving lines of credit, which come with credit cards, installment loans require predictable payments. When you take out an installment loan, you know how much you owe and when it is due. Auto loans, personal loans, mortgage loans, and student loans are all considered installment loans.

The perk of an installment loan is that it is easy to pay off in a set amount of time. The negative is that you can’t change the amount you’ve asked for once you’ve been approved so you have to make sure you ask for the right amount at the beginning. This can be difficult to calculate when you are considering a personal loan. What if your wedding expenses increase? What if the home remodel costs more than you expect?

If you take out more than you need, you could end up paying more in the long run. Make sure you are conservative when you apply, and do your best to calculate the exact fee as best as you can. If, for instance, you already plan to spend extra on a DJ or a weekend trip, then add that into your loan request.

(Photo by Dima Sidelnikov on stock.adobe.com)

What to Consider Before Applying for a Loan

Before you start shopping for a loan, think about your long-term goals. Would you like to be debt free in five years? Would you like to buy a new home for your family? Do you want to start a business? Are you prepared to pay off loan debt? Many factors should go into your decision to choose a personal loan.

As you begin shopping for personal loans and comparing lenders, consider the following:

• Your budget flexibility. If you need to add a new expense to your budget like a wedding, a new vehicle, or a medical bill, you should consider your budget. Can you afford to pay for this unexpected cost upfront? Do you have time to save up? Do you need the extra cash right now?
• How much money you really need. If you need a loan to pay for something, calculate exactly how much you need. You don’t want to ask for too much or too little.
• How quickly you need the money. If you need the money within a few days, you can get quick approval for an unsecured personal loan. Some are approved within 24 hours.
• What type of lender you prefer. For personal loans, there are three types of lenders: (1) credit unions, (2) banks, and (3) online lenders. They all have their pros and cons. Consider which one makes the most sense for you and your needs.
• What financial goals you hope to achieve. You don’t have to aim for millionaire status. A financial goal can be as simple as saving for retirement, opening a 401k, funding your passion project, or getting your child through college without student loans.

Best Loan Providers for Bad Credit

Finding the right loan provider is just as important as choosing the right personal loan. If you have good or excellent credit, you will likely get approved for a personal loan within days. If you have bad or poor credit, you can still get approval. However, your loan will likely have high interest rates, but this is better than choosing a personal loan that does not require a credit check.

Here are the best online loan companies for individuals with bad credit:

OneMain Financial
Best for repayment options

You can borrow an unsecured loan for $1,500 to $20,000 with various repayment options, anywhere from 24 to 60 months. APR range varies depending on the borrower’s credit score. You could get as low as 18% or as high as 35.99%.

LendingClub
Best for bad credit

You can get up to $40,000 in loans with Lending Club, but make sure you pay attention to the interest rates. You could get a low interest rate or you could end up paying 35.89% APR. One of the best perks to LendingClub is that they allow you to make extra payments outside of your monthly balances, allowing you to pay your loan off early.

OppLoans
Best for optional personal loans

Borrowers with bad credit can apply for personal loans from OppLoans. Bad credit scores are considered 630 or below. Though the interest rates will be really high, you can get access to the funds you need from OppLoans. Because individuals with bad credit are considered risky borrowers, interest rates can be as high as 199%.

You can also get personal loans approved from credit unions and banks. If you already have a bank account with a national bank, you can ask about their personal loan options. Your bank might choose to offer you a signature loan which essentially relies on your signature to prove that you can pay off your loan. Perks of choosing your own bank for a loan is that you might be able to avoid extra fees and get benefits. Just make sure the loan offers fit with your needs.

How to Get a Personal Loan with No Credit History

If you are in need of funds, for whatever reason, but don’t have a credit history, you can still get approved for a starter loan. You can either use a co-signer, apply for a personal loan with no credit check required, or apply for an unsecured personal loan.

If it is your first time building your credit history, you should do your best to pay off your balances or payments every month and ensure that you are paying on time. If you keep a low or no balance and you maintain automatic payments then you can quickly build up your credit which will inevitably give you easier access to loan options.

Optional Ways to Improve Your Credit Score

According to Talaat and Tai McNeely, co-founders of His and Her Money, “Financial freedom is not going to happen overnight. You didn’t get into financial bondage overnight, and you’re not going to achieve financial freedom overnight either. But you can achieve it if you stay consistent.”

Consistency can help you build your credit history and improve your credit score. The are many ways to build credit. You can apply for a personal loan and consolidate your debt and you can have your loan provider focus on credit reporting so the three credit bureaus are updating your history.

Here are some of the easiest ways to increase your credit score:

• Pay all of your bills and payments on time. This includes your electrical bill, your cell phone payment, your credit card balance, and your personal loan payment. Schedule these payments so you never miss them.
• Keep your balances low or eliminate them completely. If you have credit cards, you want to make sure that you are paying off your balance or keeping your balances low. The best way to do this is to pay more than the minimum balance and ensure that your balance is less than 30% of your credit limit.
• Monitor your credit score. Avoid hard pulls, when possible. Hard pulls are often made by employers, credit card lenders, or loan providers. When you close a credit card account, for example, it can impact your credit score so it is better to just leave it open even if you aren’t using it. Soft pulls don’t impact your score. You have the right to a free credit report once a year but some providers offer more.
• Pay off your debt. This may seem self-explanatory but 300 million Americans have debt, according to a 2018 study. Paying it down is difficult but possible and the quicker you pay it down, the more likely your score is to rise.

If you have the opportunity to increase your credit score before applying for a personal loan, you should. Though personal loans with no credit checks are available, the best ones check credit scores and if you have good credit, you have a better chance of getting a lower-interest loan.

Why You Should Avoid Personal Loans with No Credit Check

If you can get approved for a secured or unsecured personal loan, it is a better option than a personal loan with no credit check. The terms and rates of a personal loan with no credit check are often impractical and absurdly high, making the debt that much more difficult to pay off so make sure you do your research.

Instead of applying for a no credit check personal loan, apply for a bad credit personal loan which will have high interest rates but not as high as no credit check ones. If you have time, work on improving your credit history and paying off debts before applying for any loans.

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Space Photos of the Week: The Curiosity Rover is One Salty Dog

Rolling across a Martian crater, the rover finds evidence of the red planet's wet past.

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Mariah Carey celebrates women who made impact in ‘misogynistic’ corporate entertainment industry

Mariah Carey attended Variety’s Power of Women luncheon and spoke to the work of her charity, Camp Mariah, which was being honored for its 25 years of service.

“I started this camp 25 years ago and if you don’t see what an accomplishment that is for a 2-year old child,” the iconic singer joked in regards to her age.

Carey’s speech would turn serious as she detailed the sexism and control issues she encountered in the earlier years of her career.

— Mariah Carey dishes about the fake rivalry with Whitney Houston

“I was 18 years old when I got my first record deal,” Carey said. “A lot of very powerful men controlled my career – what I wore, who I worked with, and every aspect of my overall image. Believe me, that can be very intimidating and confining to a young girl just getting started, trying to express herself artistically. It took a lot of hard work, inner strength and believing in myself, but slowly I gained the courage to emerge from that stifling control by a group of men.”

Carey states the experience assisted her in motherhood, specifically understanding what will impact her daughter’s life.

“I realize my daughter’s going to have a different set of struggles than my son, and I’m doing my best to prepare her for that,” Carey added.

— PHOTOS: Mariah Carey debuts ‘mixed-ish’ theme song “In The Mix” at star-studded premiere event

She would thank her fellow honorees, Chaka Khan, Jennifer Aniston, Awkwafina, Brie Lawson and Dana Walden, for the impact they are making in a “misogynistic society of corporate asses.”

Carey would also detail that she is not just focusing on the “15,000 wayward children for the past 25 summers” but aiming to also touch all the little girls who dreamed and are now the women who joined her in the room.

In cherishing the accomplishments of the women in the room, Carey expressed how excited she is for her daughter to follow their trails.

“She’ll have some barriers, but they’ll be fewer barriers to breakthrough in order to achieve her full potential.”

The post Mariah Carey celebrates women who made impact in ‘misogynistic’ corporate entertainment industry appeared first on theGrio.

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We Don't Need Another Live-Action 'Aeon Flux'

MTV is working on a new live-action series—but is it time we leave Aeon alone?

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An iTunes Bug Let Hackers Spread Ransomware

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Be Master of the Midway—With Physics\!

Don’t be a chump, study angular momentum(p).

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6 Best Action Cameras for Your Dangerous Adventures (2019)

Whether you're bombing the slopes or diving the seas, these compact, often waterproof cameras are made for danger.

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REI End of Season Sale: 18 Best Autumn Outdoor Deals (2019)

REI's big outdoors sale is here. Our favorite deals on socks, snow pants, slacklines, and more for all your fall hijinks.

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Kenya's Kipchoge breaks two-hour marathon mark

Eliud Kipchoge becomes the first athlete to run a marathon in under two hours, beating the mark by 20 seconds.

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Facial Recognition in Residential Communities, Breaking Two, and More News.

Catch up on the most important news from today in two minutes or less.

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Facebook Is Losing Its Cover for Libra As More Members Flee

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Nobel Peace Prize: Has Abiy brought peace to East Africa?

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Study links Russian tweets to release of hacked emails

By TAMI ABDOLLAH Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. election has generally been seen as two separate, unrelated tracks: hacking Democratic emails and sending provocative tweets. But a new study suggests the tactics were likely intertwined.
On the eve of the release of hacked Clinton campaign emails, Russian-linked trolls retweeted messages from thousands of accounts on both extremes of the American ideological spectrum.

Those retweets increased the odds selected Twitter users would be online and able to express outrage when the next day on Oct. 7, details such as the revelation that Clinton may have had early access to a primary debate question were released.

Those retweets also brought those lesser-known users a wider audience, encouraging them to tweet more, and ultimately helping polarize American public debate.

In the study, Clemson University professors Darren L. Linvill and Patrick L. Warren say messages were retweeted from some 4,000 accounts on Oct. 6, 2016, the day before Wikileaks’ release of hacked emails belonging to Hillary Clinton’s campaign chair, John Podesta.

Through the retweets, Russian trolls amplified messages on the fringes of American politics. Twitter users, especially on the far left, responded negatively to revelations about Clinton, fulfilling Russia’s attempt to boost Donald Trump’s candidacy and add to the divisiveness in American politics.

Ultimately, those retweeted users gained a total of 500,000 new followers over the next four days, the study found. The increase in followers apparently prompted the Twitter users to tweet more. The report found that overall, they had sent 600,000 more tweets over those four days than they would have otherwise. The researchers based this figure on a comparison with similar Twitter accounts that had not had a retweet from a Russian troll during that period.

The research was supported by a Charles Koch Foundation grant. The authors say the foundation and its conservative leader did not influence the findings, which are in line with other, bipartisan research on Russian meddling in elections.

In a statement, Twitter said, it is “committed to fostering free and open democratic debate around the globe. We’ve made significant progress since the 2016 U.S. election to address, mitigate, and prevent future attempts to undermine the integrity of online conversation regarding elections and the democratic process.”

While the existence of a spike in Twitter activity on Oct. 6, 2016, has been known and the authors prior work was cited in Tuesday’s release of a Senate Intelligence Committee report on Russia’s use of social media during the election, exactly what those trolls were up to has not been previously detailed.

U.S. authorities have often pointed to Russia’s use of fake and ideologically extreme Twitter accounts — or trolls — to spread disinformation. The Senate report detailed a complex and highly effective campaign via the Russian government-affiliated troll farm, known as the Internet Research Agency, or IRA.

But the retweeting strategy has received less notice and may have a more lasting impact.
The retweeting marked a deliberate change in tactics. It remained in full force during the last month of the election, with the IRA, retweeting from an estimated 25,000 accounts and, in turn, making those users more active: They sent some 4 million tweets they otherwise would not have sent, according to the statistical analysis — and gained 3 million additional followers.

The 4 million retweets in one month greatly surpasses the total 2.8 million unique tweets sent by Russian trolls during the three-year campaign ending in 2017.

While Twitter ultimately suspended the fake accounts, roughly 90% of the more ideologically extreme Twitter accounts that the Russians pushed to greater prominence remain active and contribute to the more polarized public debate today.

“Twitter can go and delete all the trolls, and what the trolls said, but this amplification effect is still there,” Warren said. “It’s like an infection. You can remove whoever was patient one in the infection, that’s fine, but if the infection’s already started, it’s too late.”
The report marks the culmination of two years of study by the professors, whose prior work of Russian troll activity has been picked up by national security agencies and the Senate Intelligence Committee

The professors zeroed in on Oct. 6 because that’s the day both left and right ideologically aligned trolls went from merely building their identities on the social media platform to suddenly using those personas to build up selected existing users, especially retweeting users on the far left.

Warren and Linvill call this a possible “new type of agenda setting” where a big part of the information operation conducted by the Russian government is changing the voices that are prominent in a political conversation and, indirectly, change the tenor of the conversation.

Sarah Mendelson, a professor of public policy who heads Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College in Washington, said the report fills in details on the Kremlin’s strategy.

“There’s even more cohesion to the IRA plan than we thought,” said Mendelson, who has extensively studied Russian disinformation campaigns.

Mendelson noted that Oct. 7, is not only Vladimir Putin’s birthday, but the day U.S. officials publicly stated that the Russian government was behind the election hacking that targeted Democrats, and the day the Washington Post published the Access Hollywood story and audio that included Trump making lewd comments about women.

While some have thought the WikiLeaks release of Podesta’s hacked emails was timed to detract from the Access Hollywood story, the professors say the clear Russian strategy of retweets started the day prior indicates that it’s more likely the timing of events was a happy coincidence.

The report found that the “left trolls” tended to target ideologically similar accounts that were also often part of the Black Lives Matter movement and used “black” in their description. “Right trolls” tended to retweet and reply to accounts that had account descriptors like “MAGA” and “Conservative.
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BE, Bank of America Honor Black Board Members of Largest Corporations at National Museum

Scores of black board members who represent the corporate elite made a bit of history Wednesday night as they were honored at the spectacular National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington, D.C. BLACK ENTERPRISE saluted those listed on its just-released Registry of Corporate Directors, an exclusive club whose members serve on the boards of the nation’s largest publicly traded companies.

“It is our great pleasure to hold this special recognition ceremony for those at the highest level of corporate America and exemplars of consummate business leadership,” BE President and CEO Earl “Butch” Graves Jr. told the crowd of high-powered business and government leaders at this invitation-only gathering hosted by Bank of America, which has been included among BE’s Best Companies for Diversity and was praised by Graves for its culture of inclusion, including corporate governance.

“We look forward to members of our B.E. Registry continuing their individual and collective advocacy to make major companies better by creating fully inclusive environments. They realize that opportunity is the byproduct of corporate policies and practices related to hiring, training, and promotion of employees; procurement of suppliers; and philanthropic giving to charities and causes. So if you care about African Americans in senior management, more contracts for black-owned firms, or the allocation of more corporate dollars to charities, causes, and nonprofits that impact communities of color, then you must care about board diversity and must salute the value of these brilliant fiduciaries of shareholder value.”

Black directors in attendance represented such iconic corporations as Bank of America, American Airlines, Facebook, Northrop Grumman, WEC Energy, Boston Scientific, and Truist, the entity created recently by the merger of BB&T and SunTrust Bank.

For the seventh consecutive year, BE has unveiled its listing of blacks seated at the nation’s largest publicly traded companies. Graves revealed the configuration of this year’s list: 322 black corporate directors at 307 S&P 500 companies, a slight but noticeable increase from 308 at 316 index corporations in 2018. He also focused on the continued persistence of “imbalance in the boardroom” as the S&P 500 achieved the milestone of having 100% representation of white women on its boards while roughly 37% of that group do not have any black representation in their boardrooms.

The B.E. Registry, along with accompanying lists of companies with and without black board members, serves as one of the leading annual barometers on the state of diversity and inclusion in corporate governance. For more than a half decade, BE‘s data and analysis have been used by civil rights groups, government agencies, and corporate diversity advocacy organizations to change corporate board composition within entire sectors—most prominently Silicon Valley-based tech companies.

Bank of America director Lionel Nowell III

Other speakers at the event, which included Smithsonian Secretary and NMAAHC’s founding director Lonnie Bunch and Executive Leadership Council Chair Tonie Leatherberry, commented on the importance of this expanding phalanx of black guardians of shareholder value. In addition to citing the significance of black directors fittingly being saluted at “the world’s most diverse museum,” Bunch noted that NMAAHC was developed through corporate donations due, in large part, to the efforts of black directors like those being honored.

Leatherberry, who also serves as Deloitte’s board relations leader and foundation president, cited statistics from the 2018 Missing Pieces—which the leading accounting and consulting firm developed in conjunction with the Alliance for Board Diversity—as confirmation of the overwhelmingly positive impact of diverse boards. In addition to the report disclosing that the number of Fortune 500 companies with 40% diversity has doubled from 2012 and 2018, she also said it revealed that publicly traded corporations with racial and gender diversity greatly outperform peer companies that lack such inclusion in corporate governance.

In speaking at the event on behalf of the members of the B.E. Registry, Lionel Nowell III also underscored the importance of black directors. The former PepsiCo treasurer is one of two African American directors on Bank of America’s corporate board—the other, Carnival Corp. CEO Arnold Donald, appears on the cover of BE’s accompanying print issue. Nowell told those assembled that as corporate America continues to be transformed by business shifts that lead to corporate downsizing and realignments, black directors are needed to ensure that the pipeline of black senior managers and prospective c-suite leadership continues to flow.

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Cambridge middle school students explore materials science at MIT

Students from Cambridge’s Putnam Avenue Upper School got a taste of materials science, from glassblowing and making simple motors to making liquid nitrogen ice cream, at MIT this summer.

The Materials Research Laboratory’s Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) hosted 15 students and their science teacher, Fatima Sammy, for a week of hands-on science and engineering projects.

The curriculum also included metal casting, building solar cells, designing objects with fused glass, exploring ultraviolet light, polymer demonstrations, and constructing electric circuits, as well as participating in the “Fish Game,” a mobile-device-enabled game designed to build students’ understanding of complex systems.

Classes are taught by MIT staff, technical instructors, graduate students, and undergraduates. Students were on campus from 8:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. each day.

Basic objectives of the program are to demonstrate to young adolescents that science and engineering is fun, introduce them to the field of materials science, and have them experience science and engineering on a college campus.

The 2019 middle school program was the 28th summer the MIT MRSEC has offered a science and engineering program for students from a Cambridge, Massachusetts, middle school. Over the course of those years, the MRSEC has worked with a variety of Cambridge middle schools and reached approximately 400 students.

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‘I will never forgive you’ says Black mother to the white man who shot and killed son in parking lot dispute

Michael Drejka, the white man charged and convicted of killing a Black man over a parking space dispute was handed a 20-year prison sentence, a Florida judge ruled Thursday.

On Thursday, justice was served for the family of 28-year-old Markeis McGlockton who initially fought for Drejka’s arrest after the Pinellas County sheriff’s department refused to press charges after he fatally shot McGlockton in front of his 5-year-old child and girlfriend.

READ MORE: White supremacist group boasts about super small Dallas protests

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gaultieri said at the time of the shooting that he didn’t plan to charge Drejka since McGlockton pushed him down first sparking outrage around the country.

A public outcry about the case resulted in charges being filed by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office a month later. In August, Drejka was found guilty of manslaughter.

McGlockton’s father spoke before the sentencing, saying that he is not ready to forgive the convicted murderer for what happened to his son and offered some intense words about possibly squaring up with his son’s killer in the future, NBC News reports.

“In the Bible, it says in order to get into heaven, we must forgive those who trespass against us,” Michael McGlockton said Thursday. “At this point in my life, I am not there yet. And if it just so happens that the Lord chooses to take me before I come to terms with this, then I will see you in hell where you and I will finish this. Mark my words.”

McGlockton’s mother, Monica Moore-Robinson, also spoke before the sentencing, saying “I will never forgive you” as she tearfully talked about all of the family moments her son will never get to experience.

READ MORE: California law created to prevent Black women from dying during childbirth

Circuit Judge Joseph Bulone said that Drejka acted irresponsibly to situation that stemmed from his confrontation with girlfriend Britany Jacobs. Drejka acted as a “wannabe” cop when he questioned her about parking in a handicap spot.

McGlockton emerged from a convenience store with his 5-year-old son in tow, and saw Drejka arguing with his girlfriend and pushed him down. A slow-motion video showed that McGlockton was trying to run away when Drejka pulled his gun out and shot him dead.

Drejka’s ‘Stand Your Ground’ defense, which worked for George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin killing, didn’t work in this case.

A white man who shot dead an unarmed Black man in front of his children during an argument about a parking space was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors originally declined to charge him because of Florida’s “stand your ground” law.

Markeis McGlockton was 28. pic.twitter.com/dzY5QmBSPj

— AJ+ (@ajplus) October 10, 2019

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The Best Secured Credit Cards for Improving Credit

Are you planning to start your own business? Buy a new home for your family? Transition to a new company? Or purchase that new Corvette Stingray? Your credit score will likely be taken into account by the employer, real estate agent, or dealership. Higher always seems better and even though some entrepreneurs are fighting the credit score system, credit still matters in today’s economy.

“It is one of the most important numbers that will be associated with you during your lifetime,” says Forbes advisor Kristin Stroller.

Regardless of the score number you currently have, there are ways to improve it and one of those is by opening a secured credit card. Secured credit cards are credit cards that require a refundable security deposit. The best ones help you build credit quickly, while offering low annual percentage rates (APR) and great benefits. We outline the best secured credit cards, the best tips to improving your credit history, and how to achieve better financial health.

The Seven Best Secured Credit Cards

When it comes to choosing a secured credit card, you’ll want to consider three things: (1) your current credit history, (2) how much money you want to put down for a deposit, and (3) what benefits you’d like to have.

These are the seven best secured credit cards available today:

Capital One Secured Mastercard
Best for a low security deposit

For this card, you can put down a $49.99, $99, or $200 security deposit, making it one of the best cards for a low deposit. However, what makes this card worthwhile is the 2% cash back on purchases spent at gas stations and restaurants of up to $1,000 per quarter, as well as unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases. There is no annual fee and the lender conducts automatic reviews to determine if you qualify for an upgrade and a return on your deposit. The only con is the 24.99% APR and 10.99% APR on balance transfers for the first six months.

Discover It Secured Credit Card
Best for cash rewards

This secured credit card goes beyond just building credit. Discover offers 1-2% in cash back options, with no annual, monthly, or processing fees. You get 2% cash back on the first $1,000 spent at restaurants and gas stations per quarter. After the first year of having the card, you get double the cash back rewards, making this the best option for long-term benefits.

Citi Secured Credit Card
Best for building credit quickly

This isn’t the most glamorous credit card, but with a $200 minimum deposit, you can start to build credit. Citi reports monthly to the three major credit bureaus and offers an online management system that you can access 24/7 from any device. No annual fee is required. The card comes with a 24.49% variable APR and you only have to pay 3% APR on balance transfers. If you don’t pay off your minimum balance, you will get penalized.

OpenSky Secured Visa Credit Card
Best for individuals with bad or no credit

This card doesn’t require a credit check, which means that anyone can use it to build credit. There is a one-time account fee, a $35 annual fee and there are no cashback perks, but the regular APR is much lower than other secured credit cards, making this a worthwhile option. Your credit limit is based on your deposit which can be a minimum of $200 and a maximum of $3,000. Often, the higher your credit limit, the easier it is to build credit, but only if you pay off your balance every month.

Wells Fargo Secured Credit Card
Best for Wells Fargo customers

You need a Wells Fargo checking or savings account to apply for their secured credit card. A $300 minimum deposit is required and there is a $25 annual fee. The APR on purchases and balance transfers is 20.99%. One of the biggest draws to this credit card is the Visa benefits. You get roadside dispatch, travel and emergency assistance services, and up to $600 in cell phone protection if you pay your phone bill with your Wells Fargo credit card.

Bank of America BankAmericard® Secured Credit Card
Best for Bank of America customers

When you have an account with a bank, you are more likely to get approved for one of their credit cards. They already have access to your basic information, as well as your banking habits and this makes you a more reliable borrower. With this secured credit card, you have to put down a $300 minimum deposit, but can put down a maximum of $4,900. You don’t have to pay an annual fee. It comes with a 24.99% APR and 3% on balance transfers. Some of the perks include overdraft protection, mobile banking, and access to the FICO® Score Program which provides customers with beneficial financial information and free access to FICO scores.

American Express Secured Credit Cards
Best for rewards and those with decent credit

American Express is known for their reward benefits. From travel points to roadside assistance, this credit card company is great for travelers and business executives. Even though most of their credit cards come with an annual fee and not all merchants accept AmEx cards, the benefits more than make up for that. If you’re wondering what the perks of a good credit score are, check out the American Express reward list.

How Do Secured Credit Cards Work?

One misconception is that secured credit cards make it easier to pay off debts. This is not the case. Balance transfer credit cards are meant specifically for debt consolidation. If you have high credit card debts, you’ll want to consider transferring the balances to low interest credit cards. Secured credit cards serve a different purpose.

They aren’t prepaid cards and they aren’t debit cards. With secured credit cards, you not only get access to a credit limit, you get the opportunity to increase your credit score. If your application for an unsecured credit card was denied or if you are looking for ways to improve your credit history, consider a secured credit card. As mentioned above, some issuers don’t view your credit score before approving your application, making it easy for those with bad credit to get access.

This is how obtaining a secured credit card happens and here’s what you can expect:

• You will fill out an application. Depending on the issuer, you will include your personal information, your proof of income, and give them access to your social security number so the issuer can pull a credit history. If you are a member of a specific bank, you can ask about their secured credit cards. This gives you a higher chance of approval because the issuer already knows your banking habits. However, not all credit card companies need to know your credit score to approve your application.
• You will put down a deposit. This is your collateral, reassuring the issuer that you will pay off your balances each month. Your refundable security deposit will often be used to set your credit limit. If you put down $500, you will likely get a $500 credit limit, but this isn’t always the case. Compare issuers and if you aren’t sure what limit to expect, call a customer service representative and ask.
• You will use the secured credit card as you would any other credit card. Use the credit card for expenses. Pay it off every month. Eventually, your issuer may increase your credit limit, or will notify you of your eligibility for an unsecured credit card. Whether they do or not, keep track of your own credit score and when you feel you qualify for an unsecured credit card, start shopping for the best ones.
• You will upgrade or get access to an unsecured credit card. When you are ready for an unsecured credit card—and get approved—you can cancel your secured credit card. If you’ve paid off your full balance, the issuer will return your full security deposit.

(Photo by Africa Studio on stock.adobe.com)

How to Choose the Right Card

A secured credit card is a real credit card that allows you to build credit. Lenders will report your account activity to the three major credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, TransUnion), which is why it’s so important to apply for the right secured credit card.

Here are things to consider when applying for a credit card:

• What is your current credit history? You don’t have unlimited access to your credit history. However, you can request a soft inquiry which won’t impact your score and will allow you to check your score. If your score is below 580, you should consider applying for a credit card that doesn’t require a credit score.
• How much money do you have for a safety deposit? Maybe you just secured a job and you don’t have enough money for a safety deposit yet. Maybe you have a lot of money, but not a lot of credit. The minimum deposit amount varies by credit card. Choose one that makes the most financial sense for you.
• What are your financial goals? This is important. Are you looking to buy a house, get married, grow your side hustle, buy a boat, or travel more? Improve your overall financial health by establishing long-term goals. Long-term plans require short-term actions, like opening a secured credit card so you can eventually open an unsecured credit card.

When it comes to applying for, securing, and closing a secured credit card, you need to avoid making the following mistakes:

• Putting down a higher safety deposit than you can afford. Ideally, you want a high credit limit, but if you only have $1,000, you shouldn’t put all $1,000 down.
• Carrying a high balance. If you carry a high balance for a long time, this will make it significantly harder to improve your credit score. This is why we recommend keeping your balance low and only using your credit card for small expenses.
• Forgetting to pay. This is inexcusable and even if it happens just once, that could be the same month that your issuer reports your history to the bureaus. Set up payment alerts or automatic approvals so you don’t make this mistake.
• Closing your credit card too soon. Closing any credit card can impact your credit history so make sure when you open a credit card, you are confident that you will keep it open for the immediate future.

With any credit card, you want to make sure you’re tracking your balance. Thanks to modern technology, it’s easy to set up automatic payments. However, that can also make it difficult to remember what has been paid and what has not. Charging your yearly Amazon Prime or your Squarespace payment to your credit card isn’t a bad idea, but it can be problematic if you aren’t checking your credit card account and forget to pay off the balance. This is why continuous monitoring is so important.

How to Get Approved

Opening a secured credit card makes it easy to rebuild credit and recover from any credit mishaps, but how long do you have to use a secured credit card before you can qualify for an unsecured credit card? Unsecured credit cards do not require deposits to open and some are great alternatives to unsecured credit cards. The major difference is that your credit score will impact your approval and if you do get approved it will impact your credit line and APR.

These are some of the best unsecured credit cards for those with bad or no credit:

Credit One Bank Platinum Visa for Rebuilding Credit
Best for emergency funds

The name explains it best: this credit card makes it easy to rebuild your credit without a security deposit. The annual fee is anywhere from $0 to $99, which is higher than most, but if you have bad credit and want an unsecured credit card or an emergency loan, this is a good option. Your APR will vary depending on your creditworthiness.

CapitalOne Platinum Credit Card
Best for those with no credit

If you don’t have a credit history of any kind, you might consider this unsecured credit card. There is no annual fee and your credit limit increases after the first five on-time monthly payments are made. Best of all, you can pay your balance by check, online, or with cash at a CapitalOne branch. The bank also offers online 24/7 access. The only negative is the 26.96% APR and the 3% cash advance fee.

Want access to a higher credit limit and more rewards like flight points, roadside benefits, and cash back? Increase that credit score. In addition to using a secured credit card, make sure you pay off debts, pay all bills on time, and use credit score-boosting programs, if necessary.

(Photo by Iegor Liashenko on stock.adobe.com)

Utilizing Your Card

If you open a credit card of any kind, you want to carry a low balance or none at all. If you buy a $1,000 computer, for instance, you should be able to pay off the majority of it. If, instead, you pay it off in a six month period you could end up spending significantly more in interest, especially if you only pay $50 each month. You will get charged interest on each balance ($950, $900, $850).

To avoid this and make the most use of your secured credit card, here’s what you should do:

• Start paying for your most basic expenses using your secured credit card. Groceries and gas are good purchases because they should already be a part of your weekly budget. Ideally, you’ll only want to spend as much as you can afford to pay off each month.
• Make monthly payments on time. Most credit card issuers offer online systems and automatic payment options, making it easy to pay your bill. If you miss a payment or can’t pay off the minimum balance, you could end up paying for extra fees. Missing payments can also impact your credit score so don’t miss your payments.
• Pay more than your minimum balance. You never want to carry a balance that’s high, especially if you have a low credit limit. If you owe a minimum of $25 but your total balance is $380, you’ll want to pay that total balance, if possible. If you can’t, pay at least 3% more than the balance or $25, whichever is greater.

Know that 30% of your credit score is based on the credit card balance to credit limit ratio. Having a low balance and a high credit limit is ideal and the better your credit history, the easier it is to get approved for a high limit.

It could take anywhere from a few months to two years to build up your credit and get approved for an unsecured credit card. It depends on the lender and your activity. The best credit card issuers allow you to manage your account 24/7 with online access and get free credit reports so you can monitor your credit score in real time.

Monitor Your Credit Score and Account Activity

Financial best practices start with a budget. You want to be aware of what you’re earning, what you’re spending, and where that money is going. If you haven’t already, build yourself a budget. You can use a spreadsheet or you can download a free app like Mint or Wally which makes it easy to track what’s coming and going.

Make sure you align your priorities with your budget. If your priority is to save for a business project, a rebuild on your house, or a family vacation, then make sure you’re setting that money aside each month. If your priority is to send your kids to daycare, make sure you’re building that monthly daycare expense into your budget.

Monitoring your spending habits extends to your credit cards as well. You should know how much you’re spending with your credit card(s), how much interest you’re accruing, and how much you can afford to pay off. Most credit card companies or banks offer 24/7 online access and most secured credit cards allow users to view their credit report each quarter free of charge and without impacting their score.

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Learning about China by learning its language

Among MIT students who didn’t grow up speaking Chinese, few are able to discuss “machine learning models” in passable Mandarin. But that is just what computer science and engineering senior Max Allen is able to do, and this ability comes as a result of academic work, stints abroad, an internship, and also just having the passion to learn Chinese.

With China a growing economic powerhouse and leader in STEM, it is no wonder that more and more students are attracted to studying Chinese. Nationally, enrollments in Chinese classes are up, as they are at MIT.

But for Max Allen, his interest was first piqued by a teacher’s visit to his eighth-grade class. Intrigued by the sound of the language and structure of the writing system, Allen started taking Chinese classes in high school. To him, learning the language was akin to a big puzzle whose solution is slowly revealed. And since Allen has always been fond of puzzles, he wanted to pursue this.

After only two years of high-school language study, Allen spent his 11th-grade year living with a host family in Beijing and attending school through a program called School Year Abroad. Allen returned to the United States able to converse in Mandarin, and also more adept at fitting in culturally. He found that living with a family gives you a level of familiarity with people that is hard to achieve otherwise.

Chinese has gradually occupied a greater and greater area of interest for Allen. Upon entering MIT, he decided to pursue a major in computer science and engineering (Course 6-3). After discovering that he could take Chinese to fulfill his humanities concentration requirements, Allen took Chinese V and VI, building on the work he did in high school. Even among MIT students who are known for high academic achievement, Chinese Lecturer Tong Chen noted that Allen stood out for his effort and seriousness.

The more classes he took, and the more time he invested, the more Allen began to consider how Chinese might be part of his future academic and career paths.

In spring 2018, Allen took “Business Chinese” as an elective concentration subject. Business Chinese helped Allen understand social dynamics and subtleties of social relations in a business setting in China, including how these express themselves in language. As Panpan Gao, the instructor of Business Chinese, explains, the pedagogical approach of the class emphasizes case studies: “Through case studies of multinational companies and introductions to crucial business issues in China, we try to help students better understand Chinese business culture and trends, and expand their language skills so that they can communicate effectively and professionally with Chinese speakers in the workplace.”

The class really got Allen thinking about whether he might want to pursue jobs that would employ his knowledge of Chinese.

Allen put his Chinese skills to good use the following summer. He took an engineering internship with Airbnb — on a team with a special focus on mitigating financial fraud coming from China. The team was mostly made up of Chinese nationals, and team members generally discussed work matters in Mandarin. To do business in China, the team would need to understand how to market the product to Chinese customers; how to build a secure platform; and how to build payment applications that are in line with expectations of Chinese consumer. This experience gave Allen a hands-on taste of the complexities of functioning in a Chinese business context.

After the internship, Allen realized that to take his Chinese to the next level, he would need to put aside other academic pursuits for a period and spend more time studying the language in an immersive Chinese-speaking setting. He spent academic year 2018-2019 abroad studying Chinese: the fall in Taipei at the International Chinese Language Program of National Taiwan University, and the spring in Beijing at the Inter-University Program for Chinese Language Studies at Tsinghua University. Both programs are top Chinese language centers in the world and are intensive instructional programs with hours of work a day devoted to learning Mandarin. He particularly appreciated the intensive focus on conversation.

While abroad, Allen found that when he ventured to out-of-the-way spots, he encountered curiosity from strangers who were less accustomed to seeing tourists. But when he demonstrated he could speak Chinese, people warmed up. “Speaking their native language helps to establish trust and rapport, which is important when they see you as just another outsider. But once a certain level of trust is established, people become more comfortable talking about meaningful things. And that's where the time investment of learning the language really pays off.”

Now back at MIT for his senior year, Allen is considering how his multiple interests in computer science, international business, Chinese language, and cross-cultural communication skills might combine into a career path. The answer will take some time to untangle, but Allen is always up for the challenge of a big puzzle, and will remain open to the possibilities as he heads toward graduation.

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Accused rapist who kidnapped 10-year-old girl and fled twice, granted bond a third time

An accused rapist who appeared on America’s Most Wanted and fled to Mexico, was captured and granted bond even though he has evaded capture and fled twice on two previous occasions.

On Thursday, prosecutors were dumbfounded after Corey Gaston was given a $250,000 cash bond despite the fact that he is a two-time fugitive who ran before when out on bond in a case involving the kidnapping and brutal rape of a 10-year-old girl.

READ MORE: Angela Bassett opens up about ‘devastating’ childhood sexual assault

“We requested that he be remanded to jail without bond in light of his history as a fugitive,” said Maria Miller, spokesperson for the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office. “We don’t believe that that’s a sufficient bond given his history in the case, so we will be revisiting this issue.”

Gaston is accused of breaking into the bedroom window of a little girl in Detroit in 2007. He reportedly took her as she slept in her bed, drove her to a field and raped her. Gaston reportedly dropped his cellphone at the scene, which police traced back to him and made their arrest, The Detroit Free Press reports.

Gaston posted 10% of a $50,000 bond and fled the state. U.S. Marshals caught him in Georgia, returned him to Detroit and he was given a $200,000 bond by Judge Deborah Thomas. The suspect posted 10% of that bond and ran once again.

“They just let him run,” the victim’s mother told the Free Press back in a 2011 interview. “We were victimized, and we’re still being victimized. It’s a shame. And there’s nothing I can do about it. I don’t feel it’s right. Somewhere, somebody did something wrong.”

READ MORE: California law created to prevent Black women from dying during childbirth

Gaston then remained on the run for 11 years until Mexican officials caught him Sept. 18, and released him to U.S. authorities.

On Thursday he was arraigned by Wayne County Circuit Judge Prentis Edwards who granted him bond, despite his history.

Prosecutors are fighting to keep Gaston contained and a hearing on the matter is scheduled for Friday.

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Cities Examine Proper—and Improper—Uses of Facial Recognition

From New York City to Portland, Oregon, officials consider regulating how government and private businesses deploy the technology.

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Student activists at USC want John Wayne display removed after racist interview resurfaces

Actor John Wayne’s racist statements from the past are coming back to haunt his legacy.

Students at the University of Southern California are demanding that the Easy Rider actor’s exhibit honoring him, be removed after Wayne’s Playboy magazine interview from 1971 started making rounds again.

Wayne was 63 when he gave the interview, and it is filled with rather racist thoughts coupled with his strong beliefs in white supremacy and bigoted notions about how he felt about people of color and gay people, The Independent reports.

READ MORE: N.C. schools investigated after Black student uncovers racist group chat

Wayne suggested that there’s empirical evidence that Black folks aren’t capable of developing the same level of smarts as our white counterparts:

“The academic community has developed certain tests that determine whether the Blacks are sufficiently equipped scholastically. But some Blacks have tried to force the issue and enter college when they haven’t passed the tests and don’t have the requisite background.”

The interviewer asks Wayne if systemic inequalities can be fixed without governmental advantages provided to minorities, to which he responds: “I don’t feel guilty about the fact that five or 10 generations ago these people were slaves. Now, I’m not condoning slavery. It’s just a fact of life… I think any Black who can compete with a white today can get a better break than a white man. I wish they’d tell me where in the world they have it better than right here in America.”

He was also quoted saying flatly: “I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility.”

Wayne also didn’t mince words when he asserted, “I don’t feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them, [Native Americans]. Our so-called stealing of this country from them was just a matter of survival.”

READ MORE: Kavanaugh calls out racism on the first day of the new Supreme Court term

He stated that there were “great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves”.

Student activists are demanding the removal of his posters and memorabilia honoring him that have been on display since 2011.

They have stated it needs to be removed because of Wayne’s “legacy of endorsing white supremacy and the removal of indigenous people.”

The students’ have also rallied to have the name of Orange County’s John Wayne Airport changed.

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7 Best Cheap Smartphones for (Almost) Every Budget

Why pay four figures? The absolute best Android phones and iPhones you can buy for $200 - $600.

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Judge Tammy Kemp explains actions of Black bailiff who appeared to primp Amber Guyger in court

Judge Tammy Kemp who made headlines for hugging convicted murderer Amber Guyger and handing her a Bible in the high-profile case, appeared on the Tamron Hall Show and defended her actions, saying it wasn’t as unorthodox as people perceived it to be.

READ MORE: Judge says she couldn’t refuse convicted ex-cop Amber Guyger a hug in the courtroom

Kemp presided over the case involving Guyger who shot and killed an unarmed Black man, Botham Jean. Kemp said after she urged Guyger to give her life to the Lord, the former Dallas cop then told her she didn’t know where to start and didn’t even have a Bible, so Kemp said she offered hers.

“[Amber] said, ‘Do you think God will forgive me? … I don’t even have a Bible, I don’t own a Bible, I don’t know where to begin,'” the judge recalled. “In that moment I didn’t want to lose Amber Guyger and so I said, ‘Hold on, I’ll get you a Bible.'”

Kemp then went into her chambers and grabbed her book to give to Guyger.

“You can have [my Bible]. I have three or four more at home,” Kemp said to Guyger in the courtroom. “This is your job for the next month. Right here, John 3:16.”

That controversial move even prompted The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), a secular Wisconsin-based organization, to file a formal complaint against Kemp. The group is asking for a judge to launch a misconduct investigation.

Tamron Hall asked about her actions: “But does it get confusing when a judge behaves that way? In that, you are there for the law, not for religion,” Hall asked.

“No, I was not there for the law. My legal duties had been concluded,” Kemp said.

“Well, it’s not as though I said, ‘Ms. Guyger, you need a Bible,’” Kemp explained. “It was at [Amber’s] request.”

Kemp also hugged Guyger which caused outrage online by many. Others applauded the judge for showing compassion. She defended the hug saying it’s something she often does after a verdict is read. She said she also hugged members of Jean’s family.

Still, she said while she hasn’t read the barrage of “brutal” comments thrown her way, her family is deeply concerned.

“My family’s concerned [for my safety], but I am not.”

“My faith is strong. If God brings me to it, he’ll bring me through it,” an emotional Kemp said to audience applause. “This is one of the reasons I’m addressing the hug so that people will understand the sum total of what happened.”

READ MORE: Amber Guyger: Key witness in murder conviction slain outside home

Kemp also cleared up the widely circulated video of a bailiff in the courtroom touching Guyger’s hair, saying she actually was not primping and fixing Guyger’s hair. Instead she explained that Guyger was getting processed ahead of going to jail and the bailiff was charged with searching her hair to check for contraband.

“If you know anything about the jail, you gotta search every part of a person, including their hair, because we have people smuggle contraband and weapons in all manner of ways,” Kemp said.

“This is why we do this show. This moment went viral, this woman was mocked on social media, people said things about her — they referred to her [in ways] that were horrible,” Hall said. “They assaulted her on social media and she was doing her job.”

Griofam, are y’all sorry for dragging Kemp and the bailiff now that she has explained herself or nah?

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Mathew Knowles encouraged daughters Beyoncé and Solange to get BRCA gene cancer testing after his breast cancer diagnosis

Mathew Knowles recently revealed that he was diagnosed with breast cancer and like any concerned parent, he immediately urged his superstar daughters, Beyoncé and Solange, to get genetic testing.

READ MORE: Beyonce’s dad, Mathew Knowles reveals he has breast cancer

Knowles battled with breast cancer and underwent chemotherapy after a shocking diagnosis back in July. One of the first things Knowles, 67, said he did was share the news with Beyoncé and Solange Knowles and encouraged them to get BRCA genetic testing.

The BRCA test is designed to detect if a gene exists that is more likely to develop into

According to BRCA Aware, “BRCA stands for BReast CAncer susceptibility gene. Mutations in the BRCA gene are associated with breast, ovarian, prostate, and pancreatic cancer. Women with a BRCA1 mutation have up to a 39% chance of developing ovarian cancer by age 70.”

The test will work to identify if a person had a BRCA mutation, that makes them at a higher risk of developing cancer.

Knowles told PEOPLE he first noticed he was bleeding from his nipple when blood specks appeared on a T-Shirt – a tell-tale sign of breast cancer.

“My initial reaction was maybe I worked out too hard,” he says. “Then I thought, maybe it’s some kind of reaction to my medication.”

But as he kept bleeding over a few days, he said: “That’s when I knew I should go to the doctor,” he said.

From there he got testing and tested positive for the BRCA2 gene mutation.

Knowles said “Beyoncé and Solange have an increased risk” because the BRCA can be inherited.

“They have an exceptional team, and they’ve gone through precautionary measures,” Knowles said.

“They have taken care of that, (the BRCA testing) it’s simple testing,” he says. “And they’re moving on.”

After Knowles received a mammogram, he soon learned he had stage 1A breast cancer.

“I had no pain whatsoever,” he says. “It wasn’t like I had discoloration — nothing. Thankfully I had this dot of blood coming out and thankfully I wore white T-shirts. If I didn’t wear white T-shirts, then I might not have noticed.”

Knowles said after he learned of his diagnosis at his doctor’s office with his wife, Gena Charmaine Avery by his side, he said he called his ex-wife Tina Knowles to tell her.

The diagnosis, Knowles said is something he had never imagined hearing, but admits his family has a history of it. Breast cancer affects some 1 in 800 men.

READ MORE: Mathew Knowles says Beyoncé wouldn’t be as successful if she was a dark skin Black woman

After his treatment, Knowles reports that he is cancer-free.

“There’s always a risk it will come back,” he says. “But today I am cancer-free. It just requires me, on a six-month basis, to go to a get an early detection [screening] for my prostate, pancreas, melanoma and breast cancer. If that’s the only price I have to pay — every six months spend a day in my life to be inconvenienced to take exams — then I’m very grateful for that.”

“It’s all about early detection,” he says. “The earlier you detect, the better your outcome will be.”

Knowles who spoke out recently on Good Morning America said he wants to spread the word so men feel comfortable getting tested.

“I wanted to take away the stigma of shame — the stigma that men have to be tough,” he says. “And then I hope I have the opportunity to talk to the heads of the American Cancer Society at some point to voice my feedback, because what I’m hearing is that men actually prefer — regardless if it’s the medically correct term — [to call this] ‘chest cancer.’ That’s the word men often use for that area of our body, our chest. I think if we did that, we would have a lot more men go and get exams.”

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Kevin Hart’s car crash investigation completed, driver error cited as cause

The verdict is in involving the car crash that resulted in Kevin Hart’s critical back fracture and the California Highway Patrol (CHP) concluded that the actor wasn’t wearing a seat belt.

READ MORE: Docs give Kevin Hart greenlight to return to work to promote ‘Jumanji’ movie

In fact, the CHP has finished its investigation of the horrific car crash in Calabasas Sept. 1 and determined that none of the three in the car were wearing seatbelts when Hart’s 1970 Plymouth Barracuda, driven by Jared Black, plummeted off the side of the road into an embankment.

Rebecca Broxterman, another passenger reportedly had minor injuries.

“There were fold and crease marks on the belt surfaces consistent with being folded and tucked into the seats and no indicators of occupant loading were present,” the report says, Yahoo reports.

If Hart and the passengers argue that the belts were worn, the reports still uncovered an error. If the seatbelts were worn, the report states they were on “improperly due to excessive slack in the belts.”

As previously reported, the comedian suffered major injuries to his back in the wreck of a classic car he had recently purchased for himself. During the accident, Hart received three spinal fractures that required fusions surgery.

TMZ reported that Hart could be suing the company that customized the car because it didn’t have safety harnesses.

The report determined that the crash happened due to driver error. Black lost control of the muscle car in Calabasas and reportedly accelerated around a bend off Mulholland Highway, which caused a tire to spin and lose traction and crash into a fence. Black was driving recklessly, the report states.

The car then slid down an embankment and slammed into a tree, according to the report. The car also flipped up and the roof of the car hit the tree before slamming back down, the report states.

Hart has spoken out through his lawyer, tell Yahoo: “I have nothing but love for Jared and wish him and Rebecca a speedy recovery.”

READ MORE: Let’s discuss why Kevin Hart gaslighting Lil Nas X is so infuriating

Hart recently got his doctor’s approval to go back to work and talk about his new movie Jumanji: The Next Level. He plans to go on a media blitz joining Dwayne Johnson and Danny DeVito.

But according to a source, Hart will have a reduced work schedule which is understandable given that he had major back surgery to fix fractures in his spine following the car crash.

A source said Hart is “nowhere near 100 percent yet,” but “is committed to fulfilling his commitments as best as he can.”

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Tern HSD S8i and P9 Review: Our Fave New Cargo E-Bike

Tern’s folding, electric commuter bikes have gotten even better.

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Google Stadia Could Reach 'Negative Latency'—We'll See!

That may sound like "time travel" but its not.

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Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed wins Nobel peace prize

By ELIAS MESERET, CARA ANNA and GEIR MOULSON Associated Press
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed won the Nobel Peace Prize for 2019 in recognition of his efforts to end his country’s two-decade border conflict with Eritrea.

The Norwegian Nobel Institute on Friday also praised the “important reforms” that Abiy, Ethiopia’s leader since April 2018, has launched at home. The prize comes as Abiy faces pressure to uphold the sweeping freedoms he introduced, and critics warn that his ability to deal with rising domestic unrest may be slipping.

The Nobel committee said some people may consider it too early to give him the prize, but “it is now that Abiy Ahmed’s efforts need recognition and deserve encouragement.”
The award, the 100th Nobel Peace Prize, reflects the committee’s taste for trying to encourage works in progress.

Abiy said he was “humbled and thrilled.”

In a call with the Nobel committee, he laid out his hope that the award will be taken “positively” by other African leaders “to work on (the) peacebuilding process on our continent.”

Abiy, 43, took office after widespread protests pressured the longtime ruling coalition and hurt one of the world’s fastest growing economies. Africa’s youngest leader quickly announced dramatic reforms and “Abiymania” began.

On taking office, Abiy surprised people by fully accepting a peace deal ending a 20-year border war between the two East African nations that saw tens of thousands of people killed. Ethiopia and Eritrea had not had diplomatic ties since the war began in 1998, with Abiy himself once fighting in a town that remained contested at the time of his announcement last year.

Within weeks, the visibly moved Eritrean president, Isaias Afwerki, visited Addis Ababa and communications and transport links were restored. For the first time in two decades, long-divided families made tearful reunions.

The improving relations led to the lifting of United Nations sanctions on Eritrea, one of the world’s most reclusive nations. But Ethiopia’s reforms do not appear to have inspired any in Eritrea, which has since closed border posts with its neighbor.

The Nobel committee also pointed to Abiy’s other efforts toward reconciliation in the region — between Eritrea and Djibouti, between Kenya and Somalia, and in Sudan.

Ethiopia is Africa’s second-largest country in terms of population with about 110 million people.

Eritrea, which has a population of about 4 million, gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a 30-year guerrilla war. About 80,000 people died in a war between the two countries from 1998-2000.

The Nobel committee acknowledged that “peace does not arise from the actions of one party alone.”

It said that when Abiy “reached out his hand, President Afwerki grasped it, and helped to formalize the peace process between the two countries.”

It added that it “hopes the peace agreement will help to bring about positive change for the entire populations of Ethiopia and Eritrea.”

The government of Eritrea, still one of the world’s most closed-off nations, did not immediately comment but its ambassador to Japan tweeted congratulations, adding: “People of #Eritrea & #Ethiopia with blood, sweat & tears have won again over evil.”

Leaders elsewhere in Africa, including those of Liberia, Ghana and neighboring Somalia, responded with praise and encouragement. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he has often stated that “winds of hope are blowing ever stronger across Africa” and that Abiy was one of the main reasons why.

The U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia joined in the congratulations, noting the “incredible progress” made under Abiy.

At home, Abiy offered one political surprise after another. He released tens of thousands of prisoners, welcomed home once-banned opposition groups and acknowledged past abuses. People expressed themselves freely on social media, and he announced that Ethiopia would hold free and fair elections in 2020. The country has one of the world’s few “gender-balanced” Cabinets and a female president, a rarity in Africa.

And for the first time Ethiopia had no journalists in prison, media groups noted last year.
The new prime minister also announced the opening-up of Ethiopia’s tightly controlled economy, saying private investment would be welcome in major state-owned sectors — a process that continues slowly.

But while Abiy became a global darling, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, troubles arose at home.

A grenade was thrown at him during an appearance in the capital. A large group of soldiers confronted him in his office in what he called an attempt to derail his reforms. In a display of the brio that has won Abiy widespread admiration, the former military officer defused the situation by dropping to the floor and joining the troops in pushups.

More troubling these days are Ethiopia’s rising ethnic tensions, as people once stifled by repression now act on long-held grievances. Some 1,200 people have been killed and some 1.2 million displaced in the greatest challenge yet to Abiy’s rule. Some observers warn that the unrest will grow ahead of next year’s election.

The Nobel committee acknowledged that “many challenges remain unresolved.”
Amnesty International secretary Kumi Naidoo said the award should “push and motivate (Abiy) to tackle the outstanding human rights challenges that threaten to reverse the gains made so far.”

“He must urgently ensure that his government addresses the ongoing ethnic tensions that threaten instability and further human rights abuses,” Naidoo said.

Abiy had been among the favorites for this year’s prize in the run-up to Friday’s announcement, though winners are notoriously hard to predict. The Nobel committee doesn’t reveal the names of candidates or nominations for 50 years.

The committee has in the past used its prestigious award to nudge a peace process forward and Friday’s recognition of Abiy falls into that line of thinking.

“The committee want to be actors. They want to make decisive interventions because the world listens to their opinion, Nobel historian Oeivind Stenersen said. “There have been laureates such as (Jose Ramos) Horta in East Timor who have said that the prize was crucial in the process. The committee will hope to emulate that.”

Since 1901, 99 Nobel Peace Prizes have been handed out, to individuals and 24 organizations. While the other prizes are announced in Stockholm, the peace prize is awarded in the Norwegian capital, Oslo.

So far this week, 11 Nobel laureates have been named. The others received their awards for their achievements in medicine , physics , chemistry and literature . There were two literature laureates, Poland’s Olga Tokarczuk and Austria’s Peter Handke, after no prize was awarded last year due to sex abuse allegations that rocked the Swedish Academy.
With the glory comes a 9-million kronor ($918,000) cash award, a gold medal and a diploma. Even though the peace prize is awarded in Norway, the amount is denominated in Swedish kronor.
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Read more stories on the 2019 Nobel Prizes by The Associated Press at https://ift.tt/31TaQwv
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Anna reported from Johannesburg and Moulson reported from Berlin. Mark Lewis in Oslo, Norway and Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark also contributed.

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Gadget Lab Podcast: Put Down Your Phone

Webby founder and filmmaker Tiffany Shlain joins us to talk about her weekly tech Shabbat, a day in which her family abstains from modern technology.

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Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang named Premier League player of month

Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is named September's Premier League player of the month.

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Ethiopia's Abiy Ahmed wins Nobel Peace Prize

Ethiopia's prime minister - who made peace with bitter foe Eritrea - wins the Nobel Peace Prize.

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Tunisia election: The 'robot' and the pasta magnate freed from jail

Some are calling Tunisia's Sunday run-off election a "catastrophe" after two outsiders emerged from the first round.

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Robots help patients manage chronic illness at home

The Mabu robot, with its small yellow body and friendly expression, serves, literally, as the face of the care management startup Catalia Health. The most innovative part of the company’s solution, however, lies behind Mabu’s large blue eyes.

Catalia Health’s software incorporates expertise in psychology, artificial intelligence, and medical treatment plans to help patients manage their chronic conditions. The result is a sophisticated robot companion that uses daily conversations to give patients tips, medication reminders, and information on their condition while relaying relevant data to care providers. The information exchange can also take place on patients’ mobile phones.

“Ultimately, what we’re building are care management programs to help patients in particular disease states,” says Catalia Health founder and CEO Cory Kidd SM ’03, PhD ’08. “A lot of that is getting information back to the people providing care. We’re helping them scale up their efforts to interact with every patient more frequently.”

Heart failure patients first brought Mabu into their homes about a year and a half ago as part of a partnership with the health care provider Kaiser Permanente, who pays for the service. Since then, Catalia Health has also partnered with health care systems and pharmaceutical companies to help patients dealing with conditions including rheumatoid arthritis and kidney cancer.

Treatment plans for chronic diseases can be challenging for patients to manage consistently, and many people don’t follow them as prescribed. Kidd says Mabu’s daily conversations help not only patients, but also human care givers as they make treatment decisions using data collected by their robot counterpart.

Robotics for change

Kidd was a student and faculty member at Georgia Tech before coming to MIT for his master’s degree in 2001. His work focused on addressing problems in health care caused by an aging population and an increase in the number of people managing chronic diseases.

“The way we deliver health care doesn’t scale to the needs we have, so I was looking for technologies that might help with that,” Kidd says.

Many studies have found that communicating with someone in person, as opposed to over the phone or online, makes that person appear more trustworthy, engaging, and likeable. At MIT, Kidd conducted studies aimed at understanding if those findings translated to robots.

“What I found was when we used an interactive robot that you could look in the eye and share the same physical space with, you got the same psychological effects as face-to-face interaction,” Kidd says.

As part of his PhD in the Media Lab’s Media Arts and Sciences program, Kidd tested that finding in a randomized, controlled trial with patients in a diabetes and weight management program at the Boston University Medical Center. A portion of the patients were given a robotic weight-loss coach to take home, while another group used a computer running the same software. The tabletop robot conducted regular check ups and offered tips on maintaining a healthy diet and lifestyle. Patients who received the robot were much more likely to stick with the weight loss program.

Upon finishing his PhD in 2007, Kidd immediately sought to apply his research by starting the company Intuitive Automata to help people manage their diabetes using robot coaches. Even as he pursued the idea, though, Kidd says he knew it was too early to be introducing such sophisticated technology to a health care industry that, at the time, was still adjusting to electronic health records.

Intuitive Automata ultimately wasn’t a major commercial success, but it did help Kidd understand the health care sector at a much deeper level as he worked to sell the diabetes and weight management programs to providers, pharmaceutical companies, insurers, and patients.

“I was able to build a big network across the industry and understand how these people think about challenges in health care,” Kidd says. “It let me see how different entities think about how they fit in the health care ecosystem.”

Since then, Kidd has watched the costs associated with robotics and computing plummet. Many people have also enthusiastically adopted computer assistance like Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri. Finally, Kidd says members of the health care industry have developed an appreciation for technology’s potential to complement traditional methods of care.

“The common ways [care is delivered] on the provider side is by bringing patients to the doctor’s office or hospital,” Kidd explains. “Then on the pharma side, it’s call center-based. In the middle of these is the home visitation model. They’re all very human powered. If you want to help twice as many patients, you hire twice as many people. There’s no way around that.”

In the summer of 2014, he founded Catalia Health to help patients with chronic conditions at scale.

“It’s very exciting because I’ve seen how well this can work with patients,” Kidd says of the company’s potential. “The biggest challenge with the early studies was that, in the end, the patients didn’t want to give the robots back. From my perspective, that’s one of the things that shows this really does work.”

Mabu makes friends

Catalia Health uses artificial intelligence to help Mabu learn about each patient through daily conversations, which vary in length depending on the patient’s answers.

“A lot of conversations start off with ‘How are you feeling?’ similar to what a doctor or nurse might ask,” Kidd explains. “From there, it might go off in many directions. There are a few things doctors or nurses would ask if they could talk to these patients every day.”

For example, Mabu would ask heart failure patients how they are feeling, if they have shortness of breath, and about their weight.

“Based on patients’ answers, Mabu might say ‘You might want to call your doctor,’ or ‘I’ll send them this information,’ or ‘Let’s check in tomorrow,’” Kidd says.

Last year, Catalia Health announced a collaboration with the American Heart Association that has allowed Mabu to deliver the association’s guidelines for patients living with heart failure.

“A patient might say ‘I’m feeling terrible today’ and Mabu might ask ‘Is it one of these symptoms a lot of people with your condition deal with?’ We’re trying to get down to whether it’s the disease or the drug. When that happens, we do two things: Mabu has a lot of information about problems a patient might be dealing with, so she’s able to give quick feedback. Simultaneously, she’s sending that information to a clinician — a doctor, nurse, or pharmacists — whoever’s providing care.”

In addition to health care providers, Catalia also partners with pharmaceutical companies. In each case, patients pay nothing out of pocket for their robot companions. Although the data Catalia Health sends pharmaceutical companies is completely anonymized, it can help them follow their treatment’s effects on patients in real time and better understand the patient experience.

Details about many of Catalia Health’s partnerships have not been disclosed, but the company did announce a collaboration with Pfizer last month to test the impact of Mabu on patient treatment plans.

Over the next year, Kidd hopes to add to the company’s list of partnerships and help patients dealing a wider swath of diseases. Regardless of how fast Catalia Health scales, he says the service it provides will not diminish as Mabu brings its trademark attentiveness and growing knowledge base to every conversation.

“In a clinical setting, if we talk about a doctor with good bedside manner, we don’t mean that he or she has more clinical knowledge than the next person, we simply mean they’re better at connecting with patients,” Kidd says. “I’ve looked at the psychology behind that — what does it mean to be able to do that? — and turned that into the algorithms we use to help create conversations with patients.”

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California’s Power Outages Are About Wildfires—but Also Money

PG&E turned off the power for more than 700,000 customers to keep them safe from wildfires. But its bankruptcy likely also played a role.

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8-year-old Black girl held at gunpoint on school playground

This week, an 8-year-old girl in Atlanta was held at gunpoint while on her school’s playground. Now authorities are looking to identify the armed man who attempted to abduct her.

According to a local FOX affiliate, Deerwood Academy student Bailey Hudson was playing outside during recess when she was attacked by the unknown assailant. Because there is no fence around the jungle gym that faces Fairburn Road, the young girl says a man was able to scurry across the grass and grabbed her neck.

READ MORE: Washington, DC votes to change ‘Columbus Day’ to ‘Indigenous Peoples’ Day’

“The man, he walked up to me, he pulled my shirt, started choking me, and while he was choking me, his gun fell out of his pocket and he pointed it at my face,” recalls the third grader.

Hudson fought back but admits, “I was very scared. I tried to scream, but he was choking me so I couldn’t.”

Fortunately for the child, only a few moments later a teacher blew a whistle to signal that recess had ended. Sensing his window of opportunity had passed, the man ran off, and Hudson passed out.

The child was taken back to class by school employees and when her mother was informed of the incident she was understandably shaken.

“Just being my age, I’ve never experienced anything like this,” said the child’s mother Shayna Huff. “And she’s so young and she’s experienced this. Especially at school on the playground–that’s the last place you’d think someone would approach you,” said Huff.

READ MORE: Montgomery, cradle of the Civil Rights movement, elects first Black mayor

Atlanta Public Schools Police Department spokesperson, Ian Smith, has since released this statement regarding the attack stating, “The Atlanta Public Schools Police Department is investigating an allegation made by a student that a man with a gun attempted to abduct the student from the playground at Deerwood Academy, Monday afternoon. Out of an abundance of caution, after the incident was reported to school staff, students were immediately evacuated from the playground, and the entire school was placed on lockdown until police were able to assess the situation. The student who reported the incident was examined and cleared by the school nurse. The safety and security of students and staff is a top priority in APS.”

However, Carlos Campos from the Atlanta Police Department released a statement of his own stating that although his officers were called to the scene later in the day, the school did not react with the sense of urgency that was required.

“This is an incredibly disturbing incident and once we learned about it, the department immediately begin mobilizing resources to assist Atlanta Public Schools Police,” read Campos’ statement. “We are disappointed, however, to have been notified about the incident late Monday by APS more than four hours after it took place. The incident took place at 1:40 p.m. and we were notified shortly before 6 p.m. We believe there were numerous measures that should have been taken during that time period to protect children in the area from further incidents and to immediately launch a search for the suspect.”

The child’s mother agrees, opining, “The ball has been dropped, and I’m very disappointed all the way around.”

Despite the glaring oversights about how quickly authorities needed to be called in, her continues, assuring the community that APD, “quickly developed an action plan once notified and have stepped up patrols in the area and assigned some discretionary units to aid in the search for this dangerous suspect. We also have investigators looking at the possibility that Monday’s incident is related to an incident on October 2 when a naked man wearing a Power Rangers mask entered an apartment on Fairburn Road and committed a lewd act in the presence of a 14-year-old girl. A connection has not been made, but the incidents were a little more than a mile apart.”

Police say they are stepping up patrols in the vicinity of the incident while they search for the attacker.

 

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Planting Tiny Spy Chips in Hardware Can Cost as Little as $200

A new proof-of-concept hardware implant shows how easy it may be to hide malicious chips inside IT equipment.

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Braves fans taunt Native American pitcher with ‘tomahawk chop’ but karma struck back

On Wednesday night, Atlanta Braves fans showed a display of disrespect by continuing to do the tomahawk chop despite a Native-American pitcher saying he’s offended by the gesture.

—Washington, DC votes to change ‘Columbus Day’ to ‘Indigenous Peoples’ Day’—

The Braves agreed not to distribute foam tomahawks based on a complaint made by St. Louis Cardinals rookie pitcher Ryan Helsley who is Cherokee. On Friday Helsey criticized sports teams, the Braves and the Washington Redskins saying he disliked how they use indigenous people as mascots.

“I think it’s a misrepresentation of the Cherokee people or Native Americans in general, just depicts them in this kind of caveman-type people way who aren’t intellectual,” Helsley told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

“It’s not me being offended by the whole mascot thing. It’s not. It’s about the misconception of us, the Native Americans, and it devalues us and how we’re perceived in that way, or used as mascots.”

“Out of respect for the concerns expressed by Mr. Helsley, we will take several efforts to reduce the Tomahawk Chop during our in-ballpark presentation today,” the Braves team said in a statement reported by WSB-TV.

“We will continue to evaluate how we activate elements of our brand, as well as the overall in-game experience. We look forward to a continued dialogue with those in the Native American community after the postseason concludes.”

However, Atlanta fans still performed the chop and yelled out the battle cry despite the Braves organization’s attempt to halt the game ritual.

—5 game-changing Supreme Court cases to watch that could challenge Black people’s rights for years to come—

But karma had other plans, as Helsley and the Cardinals sent the Atlanta fans home with their tails tucked between their legs after whooping their team in their home stadium 13-1.

 

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